Saddle Sore Sorrow
My improvised saddle sore first aid kit, from left to right: Diaper cream, baby wipes, triple antibiotic cream, anti-friction cream, and chamois cream in a travel container.
I have been a bit arrogant about not wearing chamois and not using chamois cream for a lot of my cycling career. But honestly, I haven’t needed it! However, the physical toll of nine days on the bike took me and my butt in a place we hadn’t been before. I am here to tell everyone that saddle sores are real and not to be taken lightly! So please heed my warnings, learn from my failures, and enjoy my guide to dealing with saddle sores.
The Best Treatment Is Prevention
I wish I could say I heeded this advice, but when I got saddle sores I wasn’t even trying. Every blog or advice column I have ever read about saddle sores says to keep your butt clean and dry and to apply chamois cream regularly while riding. On our Olympic Peninsula trip I was washing my shorts every night, and keeping my butt clean and dry, but unlike some of my friends I was not taking advantage of the showers at the campsites. So my advice is to shower when you can!
It is also important to be applying chamois cream before and throughout the day of cycling. Chamois cream is really the best thing to apply to your chamois or butt. Chamois creams are specially formulated to be anti-inflammatory, anti-friction, and antibiotic — exactly what you want inside your cycling shorts on a long day in the saddle.
It’s also important not to remove hair for 3-5 days before you start your bike trip, depending on how fast your body hair grows. Shaving, waxing, epilating, etc. can irritate the skin and the friction and tight clothes required of a bike trip can create irritation and ingrown hairs.
When Your Butt Starts To Hurt, You’re Out of Chamois Cream & You Have to Keep Cycling
I have a stash of chamois cream at home, but I am a dumbass and forgot to pack it. Once I got realized I had saddle sores, it was kind of too late to reverse the inflammation. The best thing I could have done was rest, but that wasn’t an option, so these are all the things I tried instead:
Triple Antibiotic Ointment
On our fourth day of consecutive riding it started to be really painful to sit and cycle. At this point it was already too late. I started slathering triple antibiotic ointment on the affected areas a few times a day, and it helped the sores heal, but only as long as I wasn’t on the bike. Rest is really important to keep the sores from getting worse.
Diaper Cream
Diaper cream is really easy to find, and I used it at night to soothe the sores and keep them dry. It seemed to be pretty effective and helped ease the tightness and burning I was feeling. It was also funny to put diaper cream on as an adult woman.
Anti-Friction Cream
I found this to be the most effective at relieving pain and irritation during cycling. Po’Boy found it in the first aid area of a grocery store and is used for keeping skin from rubbing and chafing. It creates some kind of magical powdery barrier on the skin that was really long-lasting and helped me make it through the second half the trip.
After Care
My saddle sores were pretty awful, I’d never experienced anything like them before. I think it took nearly two weeks for my sores to heal completely. It was really surprising how long it took, since I tried to stay off my bike, wear loose-fitting clothing, and douse the area with antibiotic and tea tree oil ointments throughout the day. I also took a few epsom salt baths which definitely helped speed up healing. I think that’s why hardcore cyclists are so on top of prevention and have numerous pairs of comfy chamois. Please learn from my mistakes: Stay clean, dry, and use chamois cream!!!